On 2018-03-21 at 04:13, Harald Dunkel wrote:
> Hi folks,
>
> How can I view the diffs between my local modified config file (maybe
> modified 2 years ago) and the maintainer's config file included in
> the currently installed package or in a pending package upgrade? I
> would like to review my diffs, before running "apt upgrade".
In my experience, when (what I think Debian officially calls) a conffile
has been locally modified, the upgrade process (by default) halts and
presents a prompt asking the user what to do; the options include "show
a diff of the contents", "background the install so other actions can be
taken", "keep the locally-modified version", and "replace the local
version with the package's version". I think there's an apt config
option to affect this, but I don't know what it is or exactly where to
find out.
So... are you entirely sure that you even need to check it *before*
initiating the upgrade? The mid-upgrade prompt might be enough.
If so, the only way of doing so that I can think of would be to get the
source of the relevant version of the relevant package ('apt-get source
packagename') and look at the copy of the relevant file from under that
source tree. (And possibly check for the presence of scripts that might
automatically modify that during the package build, or even during the
preinst, but I would expect that such a situation would be rare.)
--
The Wanderer
The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one
persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all
progress depends on the unreasonable man. -- George Bernard Shaw
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